Hyperdimension Re Birthed 1
by raymondtan050
Summary: A teenager vowing to redeem his past mistakes. What will happen to Gamindustri as he crosses paths with many new and some old friends? Please watch to find out. This occurs around the beginning of Re Birth 1.(New writer only so updates will be weekly on blog but unconfirmed on here)
1. notice

all right guys, i live in malaysia and my country has just banned this website entirely and it has been tough for me to find a way to update my story. so i have an alternative please search blogwithray on blog spot in which i will be updating weekly. until the ban is lifted or i move to another country, that is the only option available to me right now.

sorry for the inconvenience


	2. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: I do not own the rights to Hyperdimension Neptunia franchise. What I own in this fanfic is only the OCs.

Author's notes: This fanfiction takes place during the beginning of Re Birth 1 and will be following Re Birth 1. This is because up until now I have only played Re Birth 1 and not the original series. This is an AU as well so there might be some things that have been altered a bit. Feel free to review.

 _Italic is for thoughts._

 **Bold is for attacks.**

Prologue

(Third POV)

On the outskirts of Planeptune in Gamindustri, a teen who have a katana seathed on his belt and carrying a gun-blade on his back was just walking when he saw a shooting star.

' _Hmmm, a shooting star. Now that is a rare sight that you don't see every day eh, Sloth?'_

' _Whatever, who cares if it is a rare sight or not. Just don't bother me during my playtime and why don't you wish for that wish of yours to happen, Ray?'_

Ray just sighed after the conversation and looked up at the shooting star to start praying.

' _If wishing upon the shooting star can make my wishes become a reality, then please I wish that I am able to save my mother soon.'_

After praying, Ray just continued walking as he felt the pendant hanging around his neck. Ray opened the pendant to look at the picture inside it as he had done countless times.

' _Don't worry mom, I will definitely save you soon.'_

As he was looking at his pendant, some monsters which includes a couple of dogoos, a boxer-x along with some tulips that had been spying on him jumped out from a nearby bush to assault him but Ray seemed to phase through them. The monsters just froze in mid-air and blasted into a cluster of pixels.

' _Since the monsters in this area have been taken care of, guess I should go back into the city and have some rest.'_

' _Hey, don't forget to buy some more games for me!'_

' _Shut up, Sloth.'_

As Ray walks back to Planeptune, the picture inside his pendant was revealed to be a photograph of a boy and a female with long white hair and blue eyes smiling brightly at the photographer.


	3. Chapter 2

Disclaimer: I do not own the rights to Hyperdimension Neptunia franchise. What I own in this fanfic is only the OCs.

Author's notes: Hey guys, Raymondtan050 here. It has been a rough time for the past week as I was rushing with the schoolwork, assignments and what not. But, I managed to complete those and the result is here! I present to you guys: Chapter 1 of Hyperdimension Re Birthed 1!

 _Italic is for thoughts._

 **Bold is for attacks.**

Chapter 1

(Ray's POV)

' _Maybe I should go to the shop to resupply myself.'_

As I was thinking that, I heard two passerby commenting about the newly discovered dungeon on the outskirts of Planeptune.

Passerby A asked passerby B: "Hey, have you heard about that newly discovered cave?"

"A new cave? Nope, never heard of it."

"Hehehe, figured you wouldn't know since this dungeon just suddenly appeared around Virtua Forest. The Guild has already requested for others to go investigate the dungeon though."

"Wait, what about Lady Purple Heart?"

"You crazy? Don't forget she is currently still at Celestia fighting the other CPUs!"

"Oh right, totally forgotten about that."

After overhearing the entire conversation, I started thinking about the past again: _'The Console War eh?'_

' _Ray, stop thinking about it. It ain't your fault that the Console War occurred, you know?'_

' _I know, but I just… Arghhh, I can't stop thinking about it, that's all.'_

' _Well whatever you say. Besides that, how about going to investigate the new dungeon eh? Who knows, you might find something essential for your wish.'_

' _You know that the chances of what you said will happen is just like the chances of an Ancient Dragon appearing in the middle of the town, right?'_

' _Yaya, but still you need those credits, right?'_

' _Not right, I need those credits because of the games and animes that you requested, remember?'_

At this point, I was a bit angry at him because of the extra expenses that I have to accommodate just for his satisfaction.

' _Haha, don't sweat the small details. Come on, just go and take a look at the quest, would'ya?'_

' _Fine, I still need the credits no matter what.'_

(At the Guild, after 10 minutes…)

' _Seems like this is the request straight from the Basilicom themselves and the Guild is just a middleperson as always. But, the quest reward is quite a hefty sum if I have to say.'_

At that particular moment, Sloth's voice rang in my head and I mean it literally.

' _So, what are you waiting for? JUST ACCEPT IT ALREADY!'_

' _OUCH! Don't suddenly shout in my head! It hurts the hell out of me!'_

' _What did'ya expect. 10,000 credits just for investigating a new dungeon. I mean, what could possibly go wrong?'_

' _Fine…'_

As I walked up to the counter to accept the quest, I overheard a nearby Guild member chatting with his friend about how a lilac-haired girl along with another pink-haired girl who were obviously rookies that went investigating the newly discovered dungeon or as the Basilicom named it: Monster Cave.

' _Hey, Ray. Let's hurry up already.'_

' _Hm? What's the rush?'_

' _Come on, if we hurry up, maybe you get to save two beautiful damsels in distress.'_

' _Sloth, the chances of that happening is even lower than the chances of a Zeta Herobo and Ancient Dragon both appearing in the middle of Planeptune at the same time.'_

' _What makes you say that?'_

' _Even if they are rookies, surely they must have read the fine print of the request before accepting it, which signifies that they know what they are getting themselves into. And I don't think that anyone would be foolish to go into a dungeon without getting any supplies.'_

' _Who knows? How about we make a bet on whether you will save those rookies or not?'_

' _Oh? What's your bargaining chip?'_

' _I will cut down my own expenses to half of my current expenses as of now if you win.'_

' _And If I lose?'_

' _Then I get the newest mangas along with the animes and games!'_

' _Sloth, you drive a hard bargain, but deal. I am definitely not losing this bet.'_

' _Like I said before, who knows what will happen at the next moment.'_

At that moment, I never would have thought that what Sloth said would become a reality. As I thought back in retrospect, it almost feels like I was already tempting fate with my words.

(End of Chapter 1)

Author's notes: And…. Cut. That's a wrap for now guys. Thanks for reading this fanfic and please feel free to review and/or give constructive advice. Now then, see you guys later!


	4. Chapter 3

Disclaimer: Seriously, I don't think that I should do this any longer since you are already here watching a fanfic which means that you should know that I do not own Hyperdimension Neptunia or anything related except for this fanfic and the OCs.

Authors Notes: Raymondtan050 here, yeah…. Sorry for the delay in the update. Schoolwork + exams + other stuff + assignment= not enough time to write a chapter. But, as of recent the workload has been lightened, hence this chapter is produced!Please enjoy (bows).

Chapter 2

Place: Inside monster cave

(Ray's POV)

It has been a while since I entered the cave. As I ventured deeper into the cave while cutting up the hordes of monsters that came at me which includes Ms. Clyde, Clyde, Pixelvader, Super Otaku and Contracted Angel. As time passed, I noticed something weird and decided to discuss it with Sloth.

 _'Hey Sloth, does this dungeon feels like something weird is going on?'_ I sent the thought to Sloth.

Sloth answered me while playing his games: _'What's weird with this place?'_

I answered him: _'The numbers of the monsters is the weird thing here. Even though I've cut down quite a number of monsters, they are still coming at me like there is no end to them. Besides that, I think I felt something familiar down here in this cave.'_

' _What are you talking about, Ray? You know I hate to think about difficult things.'_

' _Well, I think that someone that we may be an acquaintance with have been speeding up the spawn rates of the monsters in this cave.'_

' _An acquaintance of us, you don't mean her? No, wait, I can sense it as well, but this is not the real her.'_ Sloth has stopped playing at this point and started getting serious.

' _Anyway Ray, be on high alert. Even though we are not facing the real her, she may still pose some serious threat to us if you're not careful enough. Also, be ready to use THAT if the situation gets dire.'_

' _Noted.'_ After that, I gripped tightly onto my weapons and ventured on deeper while trying to avoid the monster hordes to prevent too much stamina consumption.

After five minutes deeper into the cave, I saw some remains from a fight. As I investigated the remaining trails from the fight, Sloth decided to pipe up.

' _Hey, Ray. These marks, do you think it could be…'_

' _Yeah, these are the marks of a risky monster. I hope whoever fought that monster managed to finish it off or else we have a tough fight on our hands.'_

After the conversation, I looked around and found someone's footprints leading deeper into the cave. I decided to trail those footprints to see if I could team up with them on this quest to make the investigation of this cave easier.

After a while, I heard the sound of some people fighting in front of me. At that moment, I decided to hasten my steps and check what is going on but as I closed up with them, I heard some voices. Among those voices, I recognized two of them which are all too familiar for me. It was a real shock for me as I had only expected to hear one of the owner's voice only but I did not expect the other one to be here as well.

"No way, why is she here as well! She should be at Celestia, not down here! Goddess damnit!"

As I recognized the owner of those voices, I hasten my footsteps. As I continued further, I load my mana into the barrel of my gunblade on my left hand and gripped onto the katana on my right hand as I realize that I am going to face one of the toughest battles in a while.

(Neptune's POV)

"Hello to those reading this fanfic! This is your adorably cute amnesiac Neptune speaking!"

Iffy screamed at me: "Nep! Stop breaking the fourth wall and spacing off in the middle of a fight!"

The witch/hag that came out of nowhere and claimed to know me just moments ago is still attacking the three of us increased her attack pace while laughing dramatically: "Is that the best you can do, Neptune! Even with your human friends by your side, you still can't deal a single blow to me!"

Iffy and me were parrying the hag's thrust as hard as we can when we heard Compa yelling: "Nep-Nep! Iffy! Take cover!"

The two of us immediately listened to her and jumped to the sides when a laser that is about an-arm-thick shot pass us and headed straight for the hag.

To our surprise, the hag simply hold her hand up and created a shield from her mana within an instant and blocked Compa's shot.

At that point, we had no more strength or stamina left in our bodies to continue fighting. The old hag realized this as well and taunted us even more: "Well, well. Even the mighty Neptune has fallen down to her knees in front of me. Now then, I will be taking back the Key Fragment,"

The old hag was walking up to me when suddenly a voice rang out of nowhere: "Flame Pillar!"

(End of Chapter 2)

Neptune: "Wait a Nepping second! This chapter is going to end here already? I mean, we only got a few lines only and this is a Neptunia fanfic for goddess's sake! Author, I demand an explaination immediately!"

If: "Nep, at least you have the last of the chapter written in your POV but I only get one line only!"

Compa: "Author-san, please answer us this instant or I will have to ask you with my syringe right now."(smiling innocently)

Raymondtan050: "Sorry, the author you are asking for is not available. Please read and review. Please try to contact him next chapter. Thank you for your patience."


	5. Chapter 4

Chapter 3

Place: Still inside the Monster Cave

(Neptune's POV)

A few things happened almost at the same time, the witch retreated a small distance by jumping back while summoning some mana arrows. She fired those arrows immediately at the person that shouted who was jumping down from mid-air. Some of the arrows were burned immediately by a pillar of flame that erupted between me and the witch. The other arrows continued their course and shot towards the silver-haired teenager who spun around in mid-air dodging some of the arrows while slashing at the ones that he could not evade. The flame pillar serves as an obstacle that prevented from seeing them for a while which lasted until the teen has landed on the ground.

After he landed, the witch decided to speak up: "Oh? I don't know why you decided to jump in but I strongly advise you to stay out of this, boy, since it has nothing to do with you."

As soon as she finished her words, the teen suddenly jumped backwards to avoid a couple of shadow spears that shot out from the ground and grabbed hold of me and retreated to where Iffy and Compa was.

At that moment, I shouted at the hag: "Hey, you cheating old hag, suddenly attacking others while talking! How low can you be!"

The witch spoke up: "So? As long as I can achieve my goals, who cares what sort of methods I use to achieve them. Don't forget, history is always written by the winner, Neptune."

The teen had been silent until now decided to speak up: "You are the one who has been making the monsters spawn around these parts, aren't you?"

"Oh, why would you come to a conclusion like that, boy?" The witch asked the silver-haired teenager who was also quite handsome-looking if I must say so.

"I am quite sensitive to the flow of energy around me and I noticed that some of the monsters have a very faint energy flow that is similar to yours." The teenager answered her.

At that moment, the teen whispered to us: "Can you girls still fight? I may require the help from you girls to take her on. Rest while I stall for some time."

After those words, he immediately initiated his fight with the witch leaving the three of us to rest and recover.

(Ray's POV)

After I told Neptune and the other two girls to prepare for another fight as I stall for some time, I rushed in towards the foe in front of me while dodging the mana spears she shot at me.

I countered with my own bullets from my left hand's gunblade although she blocked them with her own spear as I closed the distance between the two of us.

When there is only a few more steps before I could touch her with my blades, I accelerated utilizing my full speed while her barrage of mana spears increased as well. I managed to dodged most of those spears although the both of us were quite surprised at how the other was holding back.

I had closed enough distance between us to initiate a close quarter battle. I swung my katana at her but she parried it with her spear skillfully. After she blocked my attack, she condensed her mana around her spear and thrust at me. I had to use both of my weapons to hold against her spear. After holding for a while, I jumped back to catch my own breath because her strength was much stronger than mine. I then focused my mana on my gunblade. A magic circle formed around my gunblade's tip as I used a spell.

" **Icicle Shards**!" I yelled as I fired the spell. A barrage of ice shards shot towards her but she deflected them with her mana shield with ease. By then, I knew the only way to stall for time for the girls to recover is to engage in a close quarters combat. I quickly charged at her in a non-uniform way to prevent her spells from hitting me.

As I closed in on her, she suddenly raised her spear and a huge magic circle appeared on the floor around me and was activated immediately.

"SHIT!" In that instant, I erected as many layers of mana barriers as I could around my body.

"Farewell, boy. **Abyssal Volcano Strike**!" The witch just smirked at me and coldly said those words. By then, a column of black flame that has the same size with the magic circle erupted from the magic circle.

(Third person POV)

A column of black flames engulfed Ray and nothing could be observed from within the flames.

"That looks like the end of another pest." The witch then turned around to look at the female trio that had been resting up until now. The trio was shocked at how a human died before their eyes in a battle and did not react until the witch came close to them.

"You…how could you just kill someone like that!" Neptune mustered what was left of her strength and stood up while holding her sword and wielding a battle stance.

"He was just a pest and was in my way. So I had to get rid of him." The witch just answered Neptune coldly like nothing had happened from before. "Now, give me the Key Fragment if you don't want to end up like him."

"Nep…" If's words was cut short when suddenly a sound rang from within the column of dark flames.

"Don't just assume I'm dead, you old hag!" Even though his body is still covered in black flames, his face still looks undeterred as he charged at the witch.

"Hmph! Still not down yet. Then this will finish you off! **Shadow Blast!** " Two beams of dark condensed mana was fired at Ray in a spiral form to increase the power of the spell.

Yet, Ray faced the attack head-on without even flinching. Just before the spell hit him, his body suddenly phased through the attack and swung his blades which was completely engulfed in the black flames from earlier at the witch.

"Take that! **EXE: Dark Flames Blade Dance**!"

"You!" The witch tried to parry and dodge Ray's attack but was too late and in that instant, Ray's form disappeared again and afterimages of him swirled around the witch causing a tornado of blades covered in flames to surround and damage the witch.

"Nep, prepare to transform and support him! I don't think she's going down that easily!" IF said while preparing her own weapons as well.

"All right! Transform!" A flash of bright light covered her body and a new person floated in her place. "Huuh…Now I'm going to pay her back for what she did to us!" Her purple eyes was laced with anger as she prepares to strike while waiting for her chance.

The tornado of blades started to die down and Ray's form appeared close to Purple Heart.

"(Pant)… (Pant)…You girls finished resting?" Ray was panting heavily as he asked the trio while not averting his gaze away from the tornado of blades which has almost calmed down, showing them the witch who showed fatigue but was still standing as well with a couple of tears in her clothes.

"Just enough to fight a little bit longer." Compa replied after helping the other two with their recovery using her recovery skills as well as some items.

"All right then! Let's finish her off!" Ray charged in at the witch again but with Purple Heart by his side this time.

As he performed a couple of slashes to seal off the witch's escape route, Purple Heart charged at her forcing the witch into a deadlock with her spear.

"Tch…Take this!" A magic circle appeared behind her and was about to shoot something but IF destroyed the magic circle with a couple of precise shots. "Don't even think about it!"

"Nep-Nep! Dodge!" warned Compa as she fired off another laser albeit thinner than the last one.

Immediately, Purple Heart broke free of the deadlock and the witch was hit head-on by Compa's attack.

" **Wind Edge!** " Ray shot off a couple of wind blades using his blades to add pressure to the witch.

"Ugh…Don't think I'm down yet!" The witch was still standing even after taking those hits but forgot to take note of her main target.

"Take this! **Cross Combination**!" Purple Heart suddenly rushed in from the witch's blind spot and slashes her for a few times before sending her up into the air and smashed her down into a wall not faraway with another slash which was the last strike for the witch.

The witch collapsed on the floor and looked up to see Purple Heart holding her katana against her.

"Now, tell me everything including what you know about me."

The witch just laughed and said "What I know about you? I know you like the palm of my hand."

"If that's the case, tell me everything." Purple Heart was taken back a bit by the witch's words but regained her composure immediately.

"What are you talking about? Are you dizzy or something?" The witch was genuinely confused at Neptune's question but then realized something. "Could it be? The great Neptune has lost all of her memories? Hahahaha! Now, this is golden! I was worried when I had lost sight of you after that, but now I see that luck is on my side! I'll let you all hold on to your lives and the Key Fragment for now. Until the next time we meet!"

A flash of light suddenly appeared and all of them had to close their eyes due to the white light. When they regained their eyesight, the witch had disappeared.

"(Sigh)… The only clue to my memories." A flash of light engulfed Purple Heart and Neptune's younger form emerged.

Suddenly, the sound of someone collapsing is heard and the girls turned around only to find out that the silver-haired teen had crumpled to the ground.

"Hey! You alright?" IF tried to wake him up but to no avail.

(Ray's POV)

The last thing I heard before my consciousness completely faded away into the darkness was someone shaking me and asking me if I'm alright.

 **(Chapter End)**

This is the latest chapter from me.

It has been a while as a couple of real world stuff has popped up. Anyways, thanks to those that have read, faved and followed the story.

Also, please feel free to review and give me any opinions that could help me improve.

Raymondtan050 signing off.


	6. New Prologue

**The all familiar disclaimer of every fanfiction ever:** I, writer of this fanfiction does not own the Neptunia franchise and the characters inside it except for the original characters. Neptunia belongs to Idea Factory.

 **Author's notes:** Heya people, this fanfiction is being rewritten at both this site and my own blog which I will try to post updates (parts) and will update in this site I deem a chapter to be completed.

Italic is as usual for thoughts.

Bold are for attacks (though may be shout out or not)

The prologue (rewrite)

Gameindustri…

Here in this realm resides 4 Console Patron Units or known as CPUs that rule over their nations…

The CPUs mainly reside in Celestia where they oversee their nations from there…

The 4 CPUs are:

CPU Black Heart, who rules over the "Land of Black Regality – Lastation"

CPU White Heart, who rules over the "Land of White Serenity – Lowee"

CPU Green Heart, who rules over the "Land of Green Pastures – Leanbox"

CPU Purple Heart, who rules over the "Land of Purple Progress – Planeptune"

On Celestia, the CPUs fight each other to gain the title of the "True Goddess" and to rule over Gameindustri…

The battle of theirs are known as the Console War by all…

This is the beginning of everything that will be happening from now on…

(third POV)

On a floating island also known as Celestia by the Gameindustri people, there are clashes of weapons sounding as four females charged at one another in a battle royale.

After a clash, they separated from each other and looked at one another.

"Huff, Huff" was what the female with purple hair gasped. This was the CPU known as Purple Heart.

The female in white hair also known as Black Heart spoke up while trying to regain her breath. "You're all so stubborn. Why don't you all give up already?" she taunted the others.

Purple Heart replied," Nonsense! We've been fighting for so long. Why quit now?"

At this sentence, the shorter female with light blue colored hair yelled," That's my line! I won't let any of you take the title of True Goddess!" This was the CPU known as White Heart.

The female with green hair sighed at this point," How much longer do we have to put up this pointless fighting?" And this of course was the last CPU also known as Green Heart.

While rushing at Green Heart with her axe raised, White Heart yelled:" Well then, do us a favor and just die!"

Green Heart parried the attack with her lance/spear (can someone tell me what is it actually?) while trading words with White Heart," My! Such raucous manners! I have matters of destiny to fulfill, unlike you."

The eyes of White Heart turned much more menacing as she glared at her direct opponent," Shut it! I can't stand the way you talk all high and mighty, Thunder Tits!"

Green Heart pondered upon those words for a second and came up with her own reply," Breast are the symbolic of maturity and fertility…qualities of a goddess. With such logic, it can be said that you are the least…fitting." She ended with a smile so smug that enraged White Heart even further.

"The hell's that? All that crap, talkin' out yer butt. I'll kill you!" said the enraged White Heart rushed in with her axe raised as she said each line with more fury than the previous.

Suddenly Black Heart cut in with her weapon striking at both of them, "Got you!"

White Heart and Green Heart barely blocked the attack and stumbled for a few steps.

"Wha-?!" was the only word that Green Heart could come up with.

"Dammit, that was close!" exclaimed White Heart.

The reply that Black Heart gave to both comments were as followed, "Ahahahahaha! It's your fault for idly babbling in the midst of battle!"

"Really, how much longer does this sterile battle have to continue?" sighed Green Heart once she confirmed that there would be no more surprise attacks.

It was at that moment, a new voice coated with an indescribable charm spoke to the three of them, "Well then, why not get rid of one of you?"

The charm in the voice caused the three goddesses to not think deeply about where and what is the source of the voice and treated it normally.

"True… That could be the catalyst of change we've been searching for." Green Heart said so.

Black Heart agreed with the voice as well, "Not a bad idea."

The only goddess that did not hear the voice was confused as she looked on at the three other goddesses agreeing on something.

"What? What are you all talking about?" was the question that Purple Heart asked and yet was ignored.

White Heart continued the line of conversation, "So who's the sad one to be ousted here?"

The charming yet unidentified voice replied with a suggestion, "I suggest… Purple Heart… Neptune."

Green Heart agreed with the voice with an almost emotionless expression, "It would be difficult to get rid of her later since she has the most shares now, so I can agree to that."

White Heart just smiled and said, "Yeah, I'm fine with taking her out first."

Purple Heart was now completely confused and continued to ask, "Who are you three talking to?"

Instead of an answer, all Purple Heart received was the trio's weapons aimed at her.

"Ahahahaha! It's settled then! So sorry, Neptune!" said Black Heart with fake sympathy.

Purple Heart's weapon was held at the ready while shouting another question, "What?! What are you all talking about?!"

At that moment, Black Heart rushed in, but was parried by Purple Heart. Both of their weapons glowed with the power of their shares but Purple Heart's strength was greater and was able to push Black Heart away while she fell back for a few steps.

White Heart rushed in with her axe raised over her head, seeing as Purple Heart hasn't regained her balance yet, "Do us a favor and JUST DIE!"

White Heart chopped down but was swiftly dodged by the purple goddess. White Heart turned to face her opponent again and continued her onslaught followed by Black Heart and Green Heart.

The four of them engaged in aerial combat where Purple Heart dodged, parried and blocked the onslaught of three goddesses. Black Heart regained her stand after being blocked again and signaled the others to rush in at the same time.

As the weapons are about to touch Neptune, all she said was, "I won't lose!" and dodged the attacks by somersaulting upwards causing the three weapons to miss her and clashed into each other. At that very moment, Purple Heart spun around while slashing at the other three CPUs causing them to fall back to the ground.

Immediately after Purple Heart landed, Black Heart rushed in, powering herself with her nation's shares. The both of them cross blades for a brief while when Green Heart jumped and struck at Purple Heart with her spear blade which was coated with her nation's share as well.

Fortunately, Purple Heart backed away from Green Heart's attack and continued dodging her upcoming stabs and slashes whilst parrying the last one with her own share coated blade. Seeing the moment as an opportunity as both weapons are in a lock, White Heart charged in.

"This is the end!" as she swung her axe upwards, completely knocking Purple Heart's weapon into the sky.

Purple Heart jumped back and immediately flew up in hopes of retrieving her weapon but her weapon was knocked away by Green Heart who threw her spear at Purple Heart's weapon. Green Heart revealed a smug smile at Purple Heart's surprised expression when she looked at her.

At the moment Purple Heart landed, Black Heart who had finish buffing herself with skills and her shares rushed in, "I'll finish this. Begone!"

With an attempt to block the strong attack with both arms, Purple Heart was easily knocked out of the floating island and fell towards the continents below Celestia.

As she fell, Purple Heart who has fainted was enveloped in a white light and reverted back to her original form, a young girl with the appearance around 12 or so. She left behind a trail of white sparks as she continued her fall onto the continent below her.

Nighttime,

A girl sitting on the balcony outside her room noticed the shooting star felling from above and wondered, "What's that?". This was because shooting stars are a rare sight in Gameindusti and also the shooting star in question was pure white and seemed a little close to the city. She decided to investigate it as she noticed the destination of the shooting star was in a forest just outside of the town.

Meanwhile in a grass plain near the town as well,

"Harrgh!," was shouted out by a teenager who looks to be around the age of 19 as he delivered a final blow to the monster in front of him.

The monster staggered back and fell to the ground.

The teenage stared at the corpse of the great Fenrir (a boss monster for those that didn't know) as the corpse dispersed into a bunch of data leaving only a couple materials which he picked up with a disc.

The disc showed that some credits were being deposited into his account as he defeated the monster.

The teenager or our protagonist, Ray felt a trail of power in the skies and looked up only to see the shooting star fell into another direction far from him.

A green colored disc which was floating beside him the entire time asked him lazily, "Gonna investigate that in the morning?"

Ray only nodded as he walked back to the town, getting ready to rest while the disc said again, "Not going to wish for something on the shooting star?"

At that question, Ray looked up to see the last trails of the white shooting star. He hurriedly took out a pendant from under his clothes and held it in his hands as he prayed, "I wish I could find a way to resolve the mess I had done 12 years ago."

After his prayer, Ray stood up and went on his way back to Planeptune while the disc floated around him, "Hey, remember to buy me some games as soon as you can, the games you gave me had been completed already."

Little did the people of Gameindustri know, that on this day, the wheels of fate had started to turn again and no one has any idea what the future has in store for them.

 **Allrighty, that's the end of my new prologue. Sorry for the long hiatus, was in a bit of trouble at school and was busy until recently, I will be updating the parts I have typed at my blog and upload the full chapter here when ready. The site link is at my profile page.**

 **So, what do you guys think? Better or worse than the previous one? Please R &R, thank you!**


	7. Re: Chapter 1

Chapter 1: Their first meeting

 **The all familiar disclaimer of every fanfiction ever:** I, writer of this fanfiction does not own the Neptunia franchise and the characters inside it except for the original characters. Neptunia belongs to Idea Factory.

Author's notes: Warning! There may be some out of characterish moments for the original characters as I am not sure how to properly portray them. I wish to apologize if you find it weird. Also if you have any idea on how to improve it, please tell me in the comments section. Thank you

Italic is as usual for thoughts.

Bold are for attacks (though may be shout out or not)

(Third POV)

The next afternoon, after our protagonist just came back from grocery shopping and the such, the sound of a message notification was heard from his mobile phone.

"Hmm….. I wonder who would be messaging you, partner? Since you don't normally give your contact away.", the words came out of a disc floating around our protagonist. "Also, partner, please get me more games and TV shows, the last one that you gave me has been completed already."

The silver haired teen focused his purple eyes on the disc and sighed, "That was the second batch already in this week. Can't you plow through this stuff slower? All the stuff takes up a lot of credits, you know."

"Who cares… After all, the contract that we made was that you must fulfill my request of games, animes and stuff related to them at any time that I wanted when you-"

"ALL RIGHT! Don't mention that again…" our protagonist sighed again, "Goddess help me, I really am running low on credits. There aren't any explore new dungeon quest ( _which pays a lot)_ right now at the guild and the other higher rewards are all taken already…"

The protagonist kept on grumbling as he walked towards where his phone was at to look who texted him, "Hm? A message from her? What could she want? Let's see… {Hey, Ray! A new dungeon was just uncovered this morning! The guild has issued a request to map the dungeon and the digital monsters inside! The pay is high as well! Wanna do this together?}"

The disc flew to a stand near the computer and just fitted in there, "So who's asking to team up with you for this quest?"

"Well, the sender is IF. {Sure, no problem. Meet you up at the guild after completing preparations in one hour. Ray.} and send.", Ray answered the question while texting his reply to the other side.

(After one hour of preparations…)

"Sorry, Sloth. But since I'm going as a team, I'm gonna have to leave you behind.", Ray said as he picked up his equipment and his items disc.

"Yeah, yeah. It's not like the first this has happened. Just remember to compensate with more games. If possible, get me some adult version as well.", the green disc just replied nonchalantly as if one can see someone waving their hand as they said the lines.

Ray just shook his head as he went out to the guild to meet up with IF.

(10 minutes later…)

Our protagonist was browsing through the requests to see are there any quests that overlap with the dungeon exploration in order to clear more quests when he felt someone tapping his shoulder.

Ray turned around to see the light brown haired girl with emerald eyes smiling at him.

"Hey there, it has been a while since last time, hasn't it, Ray?" the girl who was named IF held out her hand to shake with our protagonist.

"Yeah, sure been a long time since we met and did a request together, IF", replied Ray while he returned the motion of greeting as well. "Now then, you mentioned about a guild request for mapping a new dungeon?"

Upon hearing the question, IF's expression turned into seriousness as she nodded, "Yeah, the guild did issue a request about it. How about we take a seat as I explain the request?" IF gestured to the tables in the corner of the guild hall.

"Sure, fine with me.", was the reply Ray gave to IF as they started walking towards the tables.

"So, where is the dungeon located?", asked Ray after they sat at a table.

"Firstly, the dungeon is a cave-based dungeon near the city. The dungeon itself was uncovered by the site where the shooting star from last night crashed at the edges of Virtua Forest.", explained IF as she takes a sip of her coffee. "Also, according to some witness, they heard a roar of a monster from the cave that stunned the nearby monsters in the Virtua Forest. Thus, the guild theorized that the monster would probably be a boss of the dungeon."

"The boss of the dungeon? Any idea how tough could it be?", asked Ray while he listened attentively to the details of the quest.

"Unfortunately, no. No one has given any reports on the monsters inside the dungeon. So they needed someone with the most experience and currently free to map out the dungeon and estimate the difficulty of the monsters inside and extermination of the boss if possible.", continued IF.

"And what if the boss is too hard to exterminate?", was the question that Ray asked.

"Well, if that happens, the guild would ask the Basilicom to help seal the cave and set up a post there to prevent civilians from entering. The guild asked me for this quest and I thought I would try asking you since you were always eager to accept the mapping or exploring new dungeons quests.", ending her explanation, IF continued her coffee.

"One last question, are the monsters digital or real monsters?"

IF raised her brows at the sound of that question. She placed her cup of coffee down and answered, "According to the initial observation, it seems that the monsters are digital as well. Also, do you think that I would want to exterminate the real monsters?"

"No… But I would like to confirm just to be safe.", Ray heaved a sigh and looked directly at IF and extended his hand, "all right, let's exterminate the boss together, just like old times."

IF smiled at the last sentence and shook Ray's hand, "Just like old times."

(After 30 minutes, at the entrance of Monster Cave)

"Wow, they weren't kidding when they say that the dungeon is close by to the city.", Ray expressed his thoughts as the two of them arrived at the designated dungeon.

"Well, the guild's information are quite accurate in most cases, you know.", replied IF as she loaded a new magazine into her gun. "Now then, let's investigate this cave."

The two of them started their exploration of the dungeon without any knowledge of what transpired today will change their lives forever.

(Rewind to one and half hour ago, a shopping street of Planeptune)

A purple haired girl was marveling at the sights of Planeptune while her creamy pink haired companion was leading her around the area.

"Now that I had a good chance to look around, this is a really huge city!", exclaimed Neptune (purple haired girl) as the two girls sat down at a table to rest and have some snacks.

"Well, Planeptune is the most advanced city out of the four Lands.", explained Compa (cream pink haired girl). It was evident that she was very proud of her statement and the place she lives in by the way she speaks of the city.

"Ah, so that's why you have that super yummy pudding!", Neptune said.

"Umm, you can find them anywhere, and…well, never mind…", Compa could only sweat drop and try to clear up Neptune's misunderstanding but gave up.

It was precisely at this moment, two salarymen that had been right by their table started a conversation that the girls happened to overhear.

"Hey, did you hear about that rumor?" asked the first man to the other one.

"Oh! You mean the new rumor about the newly discovered cave under the forest?", said Man B.

"Well, that is just one part of the rumor. In fact, I heard from a friend at the guild that the cave is infested with monsters and probably a boss monster as well." Man A said.

"Yeah, everyone has been saying that the place must be a new breeding ground for the monsters.", Man B continued the conversation.

"You have gotta be kidding?! Breeding ground… That sounds kind of dangerous and cool at the same time!", Man A spoke excitedly.

"Yup, and that's why the Guild is hiring people to check the place out now.", Man B continued their conversation.

"Are you serious?! I thought that CPU Purple Heart would do something about it." Asked Man A worriedly.

At that point, the two man has finished their meals and continued their conversation as they walked down the street leaving the two girls to ponder upon the words that they overheard.

"…", Compa looks to be deep in thought as she lowered her face.

"Compa?", seeing her friend act like that, Neptune called out to her worriedly.

"Nep-Nep, do you mind if we do something before we leave?", asked Compa as she raised her face to look directly at Neptune.

"Don't tell me. About that cave the men were talking about?", Neptune asked Compa.

"Yes. Even the old klutzy me wants to help Planeptune and the goddess as well.", Compa answered.

"Well, let's go to the Guild instead of shopping, then!" Neptune answered Compa without a hint of hesitation.

Compa was happy but still wondered, "Are you sure?"

"You've stayed by me since I woke up, so it's my turn to follow you instead, you know?", Neptune answered Compa's worries with a smile and took action immediately by picking up their stuff.

And thus, the two girls began their walk to the Planeptune's Guild which was nearby to their street.

(15 minutes later, Guild hall)

Both girls had just entered the Guild when Neptune starts to look around again and expressed her question, "So, this is the Guild?"

Compa answered as she walked onwards leading Neptune to the closest request board (completely computerized), "Yes. You can get all sorts of work and missions here."

As they stood in front of the board, they started searching for any request that fits their criteria.

"Let's see…cave…cave…Ah, this must be the one!", Neptune spoke up as she located the request.

"All right! And if you want to accept the request, just enter it like so… And done!" Compa operated on the board skillfully while she explained to Neptune.

Neptune was amused at her speed, "You're used to this, aren't you? Did you come to the Guild and accept their requests often, Compa?"

Compa answered Neptune's question, "Yup! More for volunteering and small requests though. This type is a first time for me as well."

At that statement, Neptune tried to cheered the both of them, "Well then, let us make this dungeon expedition a success!"

Compa happily replied, "Yes! Let us do our best together, Nep-Nep!"

But little do the two of them know, what will happen at the dungeon…

(15 minutes after Ray and IF entered the cave…)

Neptune and Compa arrived at the Monster Cave's entrance.

The two of them entered the dungeon with their weapons at hand, a wooden sword and a giant syringe respectively.

As they entered the dimly lit cave, Neptune struck up a conversation, "Say, Compa? What are we supposed to do here?"

Compa looked a bit exasperated as she looked at Neptune, "Nep-Nep… You didn't read the fine print, did you?"

Neptune's reply was a cheery one, "Oh, come on! No one reads the fine print! Never have, never will!"

"That's not something to brag about…" replied Compa as she pulled out her phone to check the request. "Well, it seems like we have to check on the monsters and what they're doing."

"Speaking of monsters… That huge monster is somewhere out here, right?" Neptune said worriedly.

At that topic, Compa didn't seem too worried at all as she said, "A lot of other people must have come here already, so I'm sure it went away."

Hearing that, Neptune sighed with relief. "Whew, that's a relief. No way I want to see that thing again."

The two girls continued their expedition further into the cave without knowing what is going on deep within the cave.

(Ray and IF side)

"God damn it! Look out, it's coming your way, IF!" shouted Ray as he tried to stall the huge monster by firing some quick spells. **"Icicle Spikes!"**

IF barrel rolled out of the boss's charge path to safety while the boss was slightly stalled by the icicles suddenly popping out of the ground but still charged through the icy spikes.

"Thanks! **Demonic Inferno!"** , after IF gotten to safety, she immediately summoned a pillar of flame underneath the boss, damaging the boss even further.

The boss just withstood the attack without even flinching and swung its sword, sending blades of wind in the direction of the two adventurers.

Ray leaped away from his previous spot and charged at the boss, gripping the handle of his katana tightly and infusing it with the ice element. "Hraggh!" He was supported by IF who sent some bullets to the torso of the monster after getting into a safe position.

'Clink!' The monster blocked the onslaught with the massive sword using only one arm without getting phased by the icy sword while holding up the other to block the bullets.

At this point, Ray suddenly smirked as he suddenly used the gun hidden within his left palm to fire a spell point blank into the face of the monster. **'Flame Burst'**

The monster roared as the flames was shot directly into its face and tried to hit the annoying male with his arm but failed as Ray had propelled himself away with the help of the spell.

As the flames died down, the two adventurers were disappointed to see that the monster hasn't faltered at all as it trained the eyes on their positions.

"IF, how much SP you got left?" "Definitely not enough to finish it off, you?" "Same here."

The two quickly exchanged words while keeping their eyes on the boss. "Wanna fall back for now and take this thing on later?", suggested Ray. "Sure, I don't mind falling back for now.", replied IF.

"On the count of 3. 1…2….3!" At that moment, Ray threw a smoke grenade directly into the face of the boss as he jumped backwards. The boss sliced at the grenade only for it to explode and release huge amount of smoke which completely obscured the monster's vision.

"NOW!"

The two adventurers had taken their positions and immediately retreated into the same path where they came along earlier while creating some more obstacles to prevent the boss from catching up.

IF ran in front while Ray was following and continued to create small obstacles. The two of them sprinted down the paths.

Suddenly as IF started through a dimly lighted path,

'Bam!'

The sound of someone hitting something was heard and Ray stopped immediately in his tracks to try and assess the situation.

"IF, you alright?"

"Nep-Nep? Are you okay?"

At the same time, an unfamiliar voice of a girl was heard from the opposite direction.

"What the-?", confused by the sound, Ray immediately pull out a light stick (Guild made, handy to use in dark places) to check on the situation only to find that IF had bumped into another girl, both landed on the ground with their butts.

"Ow…. Watch it, girl!" The words came out of IF's mouth as soon as she saw who she ran into while still reeling from the accident.

On the other hand, the purple-haired girl still has swirling eyes as she tries to recover from the accident as well with the help of her companion.

At this point, nobody else noticed that Ray's expression had changed from surprise to unbelievable to determined and back to his usual expression as he saw the person that they just ran into. ' _Neptune….'_

After a few seconds which was enough for the veteran adventurer to recover, she started to address the duo in front of her, "Wait. What are kids like you doing here?"

The statement was not taken well by Neptune as she countered with some questions of her own, "Me? A kid? Speak for yourself! You're a kid too! Who are you?!"

"Me? I'm IF. They call me the Wind Walker of Gamindustri!", IF puffed her chest out as she proudly says her title that the Planeptune Guild has given her.

Unfortunately, it seems like the title was too much for Neptune to comprehend as her face started to turn red and it looks like steam will come out of her ears coupled with the swirly eyes. Words try to come out of her mouth but "….." was the only sound that came out.

IF saw the lips move but could not hear a single word. Hence she just went "Ah, huh?" at the confused purple-haired girl.

Neptune: "You're the Wild Talker of Gamindustri?".

' _Yup, she definitely didn't get the last part. Same old Neptune.'_ , thought Ray as he was just looking at how the situation progresses while keeping an eye out for the reason they started running in the first place.

"Wind Walker. I travel the world, _(mostly Planeptune),_ making a living working with the Guild." IF corrected Neptune while trying hard not to be proud of her title.

"Enough about me now. What are you girls doing out here in this unexplored dungeon?", IF directed the question at the two girls.

The reply to that question came from a cheery Neptune, "Well, we came on a Guild quest too. Oh, and I'm Neptune and she's Compa."

The creamy pink haired girl greeted in a bow, "Nice to meet you. I'm Compa."

"Nice to meet you girls as well. The guy with me is named Ray, a Guild adventurer as well.", IF gestured to Ray, which caused them to focus on Ray. Ray just nodded in response as he still kept his guard up.

After introducing Ray, IF's face turn serious as she looked at Neptune and Compa, "You've gotta be kidding. You girls are working on this quest too?"

Neptune was slightly displeased as IF questioned the both of them, "Ah, sure… Well, we can handle ourselves, you know!"

"Really? Even with the monsters and the existence of a boss monster roaming in this dungeon?", IF raised her eyebrow as she asked the two girls.

Neptune's face immediately paled as she blurted out "Uh…"

IF just sighed, "Don't tell me. You girls didn't look at the fine print before taking up the request."

At this point, Ray who had his guard up the entire time shouted, "IF, 6 o'clock, give'em bullet hell!"

At the sound of that, IF raised her qatars which had been modified to function as a gun as well and poured all the bullets in the same direction as Ray did.

Sure enough, the boss from before roared as it came charging in while blocking the barrage of bullets using the sword.

At the sight of the boss, Neptune and Compa screamed "NOT AGAI-N!"

"Fall back to a wider area first!", Ray was shouting amongst the noise. Everyone started sprinting to a area that was wider while IF and Ray continued their firing.

Neptune was completely shocked as she ran, "What should we do, Compa?! It's got to be looking for me!"

At the statement, both Ray and IF who had been barraging with their ammo looked at Neptune.

"You girls know this thing?", was the question that came out of Ray's mouth.

"Yes, Nep-Nep sandbagged Mr. Monster really good." Compa who was panicking started to calm down and answered.

IF was skeptical but was not about to refuse any extra fighting hands just said, "Hard to believe, but if you girls can fight, we'll be needing your help."

Compa tried to calm Neptune down who was still panicking, "Nep-Nep, we have to beat Mr. Monster for the sake of Planeptune!"

Neptune put on a serious look "Okay! Let me go super mode from the beginning, then!"

A white light enveloped Neptune's body. The light was so bright that it temporarily blinded the monster and the others as well. After the light had died down, a purple haired lady stood where Neptune stood before. The monster stopped in its tracks and started eyeing the party carefully.

"Hah… I'm ready now." The lady spoke.

' _Hard Drive Divinity… Neptune… It really is you…'_ , Ray just kept his mouth closed and kept his eye on the boss in front of them.

IF, on the other hand, was completely shocked, "Wha-?! What just happened?! Wait, you're huge! Like, all over!" _'Especially her boobs!'_

Compa was happy enough to explain to the bewildered IF, "Surprise! Nep-Nep can change forms! Nep-Nep is really strong like this."

"Well, now do you believe me that I beat that monster once before?", A deep voice came from Neptune's mouth as she drew her blade.

IF tried to regain her composure, "Do I even have a choice? It's harder not to believe now."

The monster roared and started closing the distance between it and the party.

As her response, Neptune just pointed the tip of her blade directly at the monster and said with a calm tone, "So, want to get it on, do you? Well, the feelings are mutual."

She continued with a more serious tone, "I'm going to have to take you down to stop any possible casualties!"

At that, Neptune flew in and blocked the monster's onslaught. The monster pushed on with both hands. The two were locked in a battle of strength in which Neptune was losing since she does not have any firm holding in the air.

Luckily, support came from the two experienced adventurers. Ray had charged in but reached the creature slower and slashed his sword at the legs. IF circled behind the creature and attacked the creature's behind swiftly with both qatars. This slightly unbalanced the creature which made him lost his stand, allowing Neptune to deliver a complete blow to the torso of the creature.

The creature roared and unleashed a circle of lightning around itself which caused the three to retreat. Compa at that exact moment had used her syringe gun to fire some medicine bullets into the face of the creature. The creature was suddenly blinded by the fluids, could only flailed his sword around wildly and shoot bolts of lightning in an attempt to keep them away.

'Items—Contact Poison', Ray used the time to pull out a couple vials of poison from an item disc and tossed them to Neptune and IF. "Pour these on your weapons!"

IF who had worked with Ray before knew what the vials were and used them immediately. Neptune was confused at first but understood as soon as she saw the other two applying the poison.

By the time Neptune had finished, Ray and IF had charged in, forming a pincer attack from both left and right while dodging the bolts of lightning. Compa had been supporting the trio from behind since she was mainly a healer and supporter instead of a front line fighter. She kept on shooting beads and beads of medicine at the creature which corroded the skin lightly as they came in contact.

" **One Sword Unnamed Style - Crescent Moon Slash!"** Ray brought his sword down and directed the crescent-shaped blade of energy at the creature's side.

" **Demonic Inferno!"** IF who had closed her distance with the creature, concentrated her SP and shot flames directly in front of her hand at the creature as well.

The two attacks clashed into the creature at the same time which temporarily immobilized the monster and caused some damage to it. Seizing this opportunity, Neptune rushed into the creature's vicinity and **"Cross Combination!".** Seven consecutive blade strikes struck true at the creature with the second last bringing it up and the last slamming it down at the ground.

Even though the creature has taken some damage, it stood up swiftly and threw a punch into Neptune who didn't got out in time.

"Oof-" Neptune was sent a couple feet back by the blow but stood her ground.

The monster tried to give chase but was halted by the simultaneous attacks on both sides. Ray and IF had prepared their stances as they saw Neptune sending the creature high up into the air. The two attacked in quick successions as soon as the creature was slammed into the ground deepening the wounds on the boss.

The creature who had finally noticed the two attacking, brought his sword around only for the two to avoid the attack. Ray closed in again and continued his onslaught with both his katana and pistol sword. He slashed with his katana while stabbing or firing bullets with the pistol sword on the legs of the creature with the intent of incapacitating the creature's movement.

The creature felt the damage dealt to the legs roared once again and called down a lightning to strike at Ray. Unfortunately, the lightning struck true which caused Ray to be stunned and hurt. The creature tried to finish Ray off but Neptune and IF had closed in again.

Neptune delivered a quick series of blows of which the creature parried the attacks while IF brought Ray to Compa for light treatment and rushed in once more.

' _Flames Infusion'_ __IF's qatars were enveloped in flames as she slashed at the legs of the creature.

"Here!" Compa injected a vial of medicine which removed Ray's paralysis and filled him with some more energy. "Thanks for the medicine.", Ray swiftly thanked for the healing, pulling out some vials of mysterious liquid. "Try to use these to replace your medicine fluids."

Compa immediately switched out the fluid within her syringe and fired at the creature. To her surprise, the liquid reacted violently with the corroded parts of the creature from before causing miniature explosions.

At this time, Neptune had been using her ability of flight to dodge and attack whenever possible. IF was causing slight burns on her end with her flames-induced qatars. The monster was getting even more furious as it was unable to land a direct hit on Neptune or IF as they executed hit and run tactics. As it tried to get into a stance, the poison on the blades from before kicked in causing it to move slower. Simultaneously, the newly acquired bullets from Compa struck it and caused many explosions on its body. As a result, the monster staggered backwards. IF who had been slicing at the leg wounds, sliced even faster " **Demon Slice!".** This time, the attack finally went through, slicing a leg off the monster. The monster now unbalanced even more, tried to regain its stand.

" **Cross Combination!"** Neptune charged in immediately. The monster was unable to block or dodge the attacks and was forced to take the hits. However, this time Neptune finished her attacks with a cross slash on the monster, damaging and unbalancing it further instead of sending it midair and slamming it down.

Seizing the chance, Ray fired a quick succession of spells from his gun. **"Flame Spear! Wind Spear**!" A flame speared was fired first was boosted even deadlier by the second spell pierced through the creature's torso, which seems to have dealt the final blow.

The creature seems to know it will be dying, let out a huge roar accompanied by more lightning which struck the cave's ceiling, causing stalactites to fall down as well. The party tried to evade most of the attack but failed to evade all completely.

After letting out all of its lightning, the creature finally tumbled downwards and scattered into bits of data. All of them heaved a huge sigh at the sight of the dissipation of the monster.

"Hooo- Finally…", Ray and IF who had been fighting the longest time with barely time to rest dropped onto the ground immediately.

Neptune floated down "Well, that was tiring and unfair. The monster was outnumbered and injured as well."

"Thanks… Huff… for the help. Huff…" Ray panted as he tried to thank Neptune and Compa.

From her looks, Neptune didn't seem tired and just answered, "No problem. I was the one who let it go in the first place, after all."

Finally getting her breath, IF spoke up, "Still… That's some transformation. You're like a different person."

"I was surprised the first time I saw it, too" Compa admitted.

In another flash of white light, Neptune transformed back to her younger self. "Phew… I'm beat…" Neptune said, looking tired.

' _It seems that transforming took a lot out of her.'_ Ray silently deduced.

"Nice fight, Nep-Nep! You were really awesome!" Compa praised Neptune.

"Heh. Please, stop flattering me.", Neptune said. Her face was flushed red seeing as she was not used to being complimented.

IF who was still marveling at the huge personality between both forms of Neptune said "Really, it's hard to believe you're the same person."

"Oh yeah, Iffy and Ray, how about joining our party while we're at it?" Neptune asked hopefully at the duo.

Taken back by the question, IF asked "Iffy? Me? Iffy?" while looking confused.

"Yup. IF = Iffy! Sounds a lot cuter too, don't you think?" Neptune explained her reasoning behind IF's nickname.

"Iffy…" IF pondered a bit.

"Wait, you don't like it?" Neptune asked, "Oh, were you teased by kids with that name when you were young?"

"No! I was never teased with my name before. Just call me anything you want." IF replied hastily.

"Okay, then I'll call you Iffy as well." Compa said happily.

"I'll just stick with the original IF." Ray said coolly. At his voice, the others turned to look at him. "What? Why are you all looking at me?"

"Hm… Ray, Ray, Ray… Nope, can't think of any nickname for you." Neptune shook her head after thinking out loud for a while.

"There's no need to give me a nickname." Ray could only sweatdrop after understanding why the others looked intensely at him.

"Now then, do you two want to come with us? Having pros like you two would be so cool!" Neptune continued her invitation.

IF and Ray looked at each other and nodded. IF answered "Well, why not? As they say, the more the merrier." _'Also, it doesn't feel right for two inexperienced rookies to be running around in an unexplored dungeon.'_ IF secretly thought to herself.

"Great. Well, here's to hoping we becoming the bestest friends!" Neptune's face lit up after hearing the response. She immediately pulled the others into a group hug.

"Woah!" Ray tried to get out of it, but failed as he hasn't completely recovered yet.

The other girls didn't seem to mind being hugged along with the opposite gender at all, if not for the faintest tinge of redness on the tip of their ears.

After being released from the hug, IF replied calmly "Sure, looking forward to it."

The newly formed party rested for a while to recover their strength and continued exploring deeper into the dungeon.

[Teach me Histy!

What are digital monsters and real monsters?

Simply put, digital monsters are the monsters that you beat up in the game which disappears into data bits after data and do not leave any corpse behind. This is the kind of monster that was produced by the Enemy Discs. Real monsters are monsters that actually eat, sleep, drink and reproduce just like animals. Some of the real monsters have gained intelligence around the level of humans and became the leader of their tribes. These monsters are becoming less and less as they are mostly killed by the digital monsters and due to their low reproductive rates as well. Some of the leaders of the tribes have signed a treaty with the goddesses of their landmasses which allows them to enter the respective city and live there as long as no violation of law occurs.]

All right, this is the end of this chapter. Would you guys prefer the [Teach Me Histy!] at the same part as the original terms were or at the end of the chapter like this one? Please R&R and give any suggestions in the comments. Thanks in advance for reading my fanfiction! Also, if you guys will, please visit my blogspot which I will be updating parts of any chapter weekly on Mondays. The website is blogwithray. / without the spaces within.


	8. Chapter 7

Chapter 2: Some explanation of Gamindustri…

 **The all familiar disclaimer of every fanfiction ever:** I, writer of this fanfiction does not own the Neptunia franchise and the characters inside it except for the original characters. Neptunia belongs to Idea Factory.

 **Author's notes** : Warning! There may be some out of characterish moments for the original characters as I am not sure how to properly portray them. I wish to apologize if you find it weird. This chapter is mainly about some systems that I tried to make more logical sounding than in game. So, the whole chapter will be mainly about the settings for this fanfic, if you wish to skip over it, it is fine to do so as well. Also if you have any idea on how to improve it, please tell me in the comments section. Thank you.

 _Italic is as usual for thoughts._

 **Bold are for attacks (though may be shout out or not)**

Underline are for author's notes.

(Third POV)

(Within the depths of the Monster Cave)

While continuing their exploration, the quartet fought and killed their way through the hordes of enemies that they came across.

After all the fighting, the quartet took a breather at a small secluded space. Neptune suddenly spoke up.

"Well, now that I have a chance to look around, this dungeon is huge." Neptune said while marveling at the size of the dungeon.

Compa agreed, "We're lucky that we didn't get lost running around."

IF also spoke as though she remembered something, "Oh yeah, just now the two of you said that you guys came down here before, right? Mind filling me and Ray with some details?"

"Sure!..." Neptune began recounting from her memories of what had transpired. Neptune told Ray and IF of how she fell to the ground, had amnesia, about Histoire and her request to collect the Key Fragments, and how they accepted the guild quest in hopes of helping the goddess.

"… and, that's that!" Neptune finishes her story, feeling proud of her summarizing ability.

"Nep falls, loses memory, Histoire, Key Fragments… That's all so random." IF was a bit confused but was able to retrieve the important information from Neptune's story.

Neptune only smiled sheepishly at IF's comment, "Heh, well shoot, thanks."

IF could only sigh at Neptune's response, "I wasn't praising you…"

"Oh! Ray, IF, can I ask you guys something?" Compa spoke up as though she thought of something.

"Sure, what's your question?" Ray replied while pulling out some refreshments from an item disc.

"You both are experienced guild adventurers, right?" Compa looked at the both of them and saw them nodding to her question and continued, "So, why does it seem like that the both of you are at the same low level like me and Neptune and was assigned such a difficult quest?"

IF answered, "Well, I just broke my potential limit a few days ago and haven't really raised my level back up which I believe would be the same situation for Ray."

Ray nodded in response to IF's words, "Yup, just broke my potential limit again around 2 nights ago."

"Also, the two of us have a couple of aces up our sleeves if we were really in danger." IF continued.

"Oh! You mean that you guys can awaken?" Compa was a little excited after hearing the two had broken their limits but Neptune just looked completely left out of the picture.

"Hey, guys? What is breaking potential limit? Also, what does Compa mean by awaken?" Neptune voiced out her questions to the group.

Ray and IF shot a dubious look at Neptune but remembered that Neptune has had amnesia.

"Right… Almost forgot that Nep has amnesia." IF said. "Well, for starters, Nep, call out your status window."

"Status… Window?" Neptune tilted her head to show her confusion.

"Just think of calling your status while pulling two fingers down from above in the air." Ray demonstrated the movements to Neptune.

[Author's words: Yes, yes. I copied it from the Sword Art Series. I just thought it would be quite fitting for them to be able to call out their status since they are technically living in a game world named Gamindustri.]

Neptune followed suit and was surprised at the window that popped out. "Woah! Never thought that would happen."

"Within your status window, you can see your levels, how much health and SP you have, your strength, your agility, your current status and so on, right? So, tell us what level you are now." IF asked.

"Wait, you guys can't see my status?" Neptune was about to answer the question when she thought that it was weird that IF would ask her about her level.

It was Compa that answered, "Well, Nep-Nep, the thing is only you can call out and see your own status. We can't see it."

"Why is that?"

"Well, the True Goddess that added this status window into Gamindustri made it so as to prevent the violation of privacy, according to the legends." Ray answered the question. "So, what level are you at now?"

[Another note: Also, the true goddess had set some other rules in Gamindustri such as faster healing, killing intelligent creature including human and monsters alike will be much difficult (must be done with the resolve and actual intent to kill) and so on to make the world much more true to its name (Gamindustri). One more thing is that the stats just show their basic fighting abilities, doesn't actually equalate to their real combat prowess which includes combat experience and other stuff. Besides that, the residents of Gamindustri are able to gain experience points and credits from both quests (any quest) and defeating monsters. Though defeating monsters give more EXP and credits.]

"According to here, I'm level 6 out of 200 but there is a gray power symbol after the number, what does that mean?" Neptune answered after looking closely at her status window.

"Hm… I'm not sure about the power symbol but there should actually be a gray question mark there which means that you cannot break your potential limit as you haven't raised your level to the max." IF answered after mulling over what Neptune had said.

' _The lack of question mark must be because that as a goddess, she need not to break her potential limit since a CPU is basically limitless. That would also mean that the gray power symbol means that she is not in HDD form_.' Ray thought to himself while saying "Anyways, breaking potential limit is when someone had already reached their current max level which in Neptune's case, it would be level 200."

"Okay, but why would you guys want to do so if you are already at the max level?" Neptune spoke her thoughts out loud.

"Well, that brings us to the next part of breaking the potential limit. There are two ways to break the potential limit, a risky but more rewarding method and a safe but less benefits. When someone reaches their max level, they can break their limit by touching the question mark that would ask them which method they wish to perform.

The risky method is highly rewarding as the person can actually continue to level up from that same level if they succeed and actually spends less time on levelling up again. Also, the stats raised through this method is much more than the other method. On another note, the stats that you obtain through breaking your limit can actually be distributed by yourself such as increasing your health, endurance, agility and so on. But the catch here is that there is only a slim chance of succession through this method.

[Yes, it is similar to the enchantment rate in games… The rate of succession would be akin to enchanting a weapon from +19 to +20]

Although one can increase the success rate through sacrificing rare materials and a huge amount of credits. The rare materials that I speak of is very very rare such as the horn of a dragon boss around the level of 400, the tail feather of a 450 level phoenix, the core from a level 500 grandogoo and you get the picture. The credits required would jump from 1 hundred thousand and above. Another catch is that on failing, you would have to restart from level 1 without gaining any stat boost and also losing all the aforementioned sacrifices if one did do so. Besides that, the success rate of using this method goes down continuously until you succeed.

The slow method though is the one that most people choose. By utilizing this method, one starts from level 1. The downside to this method is that the SP skills that you have previously learned is very unsafe until you reached the level you have learned it before. For example, if you learned Flame Arrow at level 10 previously, you would have to level up again to level 10 to be able to use it. Before that level, you would be having a hard time controlling the spell, the range, the power, where to fire and so on. Furthermore, the stats that you gained through this method is lower in average when compared to the other method. But the pros of this method is that it does not cost the limit breaker anything except for the time needed to retrain the level to the max level again."

The explanation given was so lengthy that Neptune was barely able to keep up judging from the steam that seems to be billowing from the both of her ears from overthinking.

After recovering and completely understanding their explanation, Neptune asked, "So… How does this tie to your so-called 'awaken' being the ace up your sleeves?"

"Uhm… I would like to know as well since I just heard of rumors on the topic." Compa also said quizzically.

"Well, awaken isn't something that can be done by anyone. There are some minimum requirements that needs to be achieved before one can learn to awaken." IF answered their questions while waving a finger to emphasize her point.

"What sort of requirements?" Two sounds chorused together as Compa and Neptune asked at the same time who wanted to learn about awakening.

IF continued to answer their questions "One of those requirements is that one would have to break their limits at least 5 times." At the end of her sentence, IF put up a hand to emphasize the least number of times to break their limit.

"F-Five times?!" Both girls exclaimed at the first requirement.

"Yup, the second requirement would be the level cap must be above the 300 level mark." IF just said the second requirement so casually that Neptune and Compa took a while to process before fully comprehending the requirement. "EHHH!"

"Shhhhhh!" Ray hurriedly tried to quiet the duo down to prevent any unwanted monster presence.

"I know that it is a secret technique and all, but aren't the requirements a bit too high?" Neptune raised the question.

"Well, that is a good question, Ray how about you answer the question and I will stay on the look out?" IF decided to let Ray join the chat and relief him from his duty as well.

"Sure, I don't mind." Ray just shrugged and walked to join the party while IF took over his position.

After he sat down, he began to speak, "The answer to that question, Neptune, is that awakening is not some technique that can be used easily. The technique takes a huge toll on the body. So, that's why the common requirement must be met before one can learn the technique. Usually, when one had achieved those requirements, they will be able to withstand the backlash of the technique."

"Backlash?" This time, it was Compa who spoke up.

"Well, one of those backlash is that it really tires the user out. Also, the usage of awakening is quite severe that most tend to avoid using it unless they are in a dire situation."

"So…. Let me get this straight, people who had achieved the requirements after much training and grinding and all the what not are able to learn a super duper secret technique but refuses to use it? Then why would you go to great lengths to learn this technique in the first place!" Neptune let out all that after Ray stopped to get a drink from his item disc.

"Calm down, will ya? I'm getting to the point. In simple terms, awakening is activated when the user sacrifices a portion of stamina and mana (HP and SP respectively). This allows the user to raise their stats (as in the ones in the status window) to a point higher than their current level. Though awakening can be simply classified into two main stages. The first stage is just raising the stats to the normal level limit of level 99. The second stage however, is much more extreme as it raises all of the user's stats to their most prime level which is to their current level cap. However, do remember the consequences included." Ray stopped again to take a swig from a Nep Cola. "The consequences of activating the first stage of awakening is considered lenient compared to the second stage. Both come at a prices mainly named the experience points."

"How much EXP we are talking about?" Neptune took a swig from a Nepsi after asking her question.

"The EXP price is actually sort of a debt that one have to pay before they could break their limit once again. For the first stage of awakening, the EXP required is raised by 2 of the base number for every minute of usage. An easy example would be like say, if you needed 10,000 EXP to break the limit, after using awakening for each minute, the EXP required would rise such as 10,000 to 20,000 after the first minute and the next 30,000 and 40,000 and so on. You girls able to get me so far?" Ray stopped his explanation briefly to see whether his explanation was too much for them.

"Nope! No problem for me!" Neptune answered cheerfully.

"I don't have any problems as well." Compa also answered brightly.

"All right then, the consequence of the second stage is that the EXP debt rises with a multiplier. The multiplier works like this. For example, with 10,000 as the base, after activating for each minute, the multiplier rises and with it the debt as well. So, it would be like this, the first minute is a *2 multiplier, making it 20,000, next minute is a *4 multiplier, making the debt 80,000, next is *8 and 64,000 and so on."

"WH-mrmph!" Before they could finish their exclamation, their mouths were stuffed with a manjuu that originated from Lowee with their goddess's face on the surface (Blanc Manjuu) by Ray.

"Seriously, why do they always make the same reaction when they started calculating the debt?" Ray let out a huge sigh as he sat down again.

"B-But, the amount of EXP needed then would be-" Compa's words were cut short by Ray. "Sure, the numbers may be high, but everything comes at a price. Don't forget that any sane person would only activate the second stage in the situation that they think it is necessary to do so to save themselves. So the price isn't that great when you compare it to your own life. At least you get to live to fight and clear the debt while the other alternative is to die."

At that note, the two girls turned silent and started eating the manjuus.

"Well, that is about almost everything on the subject. If you guys have any more questions, please leave them until we are back in town." Concluded Ray as he stood up and pulled out his weapons and walked to IF's side.

"IF, actually with Neptune's amnesia and Compa as a rookie fighter, I think we should at least give them some basic training to prevent them from being this reckless again." Whispered Ray as he passed by IF's side.

"That ain't a bad idea, seeing how they completely let down their guard even in a dungeon. Besides that, I don't think any of them can use infusion according to the battles just now." IF replied her answer as well and raised her voice to call Neptune and Compa. "Come on girls, let's finish the quest and get back to town before the sun sets."

The two "rookies" quickly prepared their weapons after being called again and joined the other two. The four of them continued deeper into the cave without knowing what happened a while later would totally turn their lives upside down.

All right, this is the end of this chapter. Please R&R and give any suggestions in the comments. Thanks in advance for reading my fanfiction! Also, if you guys will, please visit my blogspot which I will be updating parts of any chapter weekly on Mondays. The website is : / / blogwithray. blogspot . my / without the spaces within.


	9. Re: chapter 3

Chapter 2: New Enemies…

The all familiar disclaimer of every fanfiction ever: I, writer of this fanfiction does not own the Neptunia franchise and the characters inside it except for the original characters. Neptunia belongs to Idea Factory.

Author's notes: Warning! There may be some out of characterish moments for the original characters as I am not sure how to properly portray them. I wish to apologize if you find it weird. Also if you have any idea on how to improve it, please tell me in the comments section. Thank you.

Italic is as usual for thoughts.

Bold are for attacks (though may be shout out or not)

Underline are for author's notes.

(Third POV)

(Within the depths of the Monster Cave)

As they destroyed another horde of monsters, Ray and IF pulled out a notebook and started recorded something on it respectively which they had been doing for a while since they formed a party.

"Guys, what are you doing?" Neptune's curiosity got the better of her and she decided to sate it by asking directly.

Ray looked up and answered "Ain't it obvious? We're recording our observations and our guesses about the monsters in this cave to complete our quest."

"We're also keeping track of the paths we take to map this dungeon in order to get lost and fulfilling the quest as well." IF said.

"So what have you guys recorded?" Compa joined in on the conversation too.

"Well, mainly the species of the monsters, their appearances, what sorts of attacks do they use, their probable weakness and our guesses on their levels." IF answered the question.

"As of our battles, we have fought against some vader type monsters, some ghost type monsters and I guess is a beast… type monster?" Ray's voice was confident at first but slowly loses his confidence when he came to the last type of monster that they had encountered. The monster's appearance was like an otaku, complete with the thick glasses and a plump body size coupled with a bad odor [This is not me being wearing colored glasses, I'm just describing the characteristics that I think would appear on the monster based on the monster's appearance]. This was the first time the silver haired teen had met a humanoid monster, so he was unsure where to categorize said monster.

The same uncertainty was shared by IF. "Well, I think you're right to categorize it under the beast category. For now, that is."

It was at this moment that Neptune saw something peculiar and decided to pick it up.

"Hey, Iffy, Ray. I picked this up, but…" Neptune inspected the item and decided to ask the other more experienced members of the party.

The two of them looked up and saw the said item, it was a disc that looked like any other.

"It looks like a disc… Nep, where'd you pick that up from?" IF asked Neptune.

"Wait, I noticed just now, but is Nep… me?" It seems that Neptune's focus was on the wrong topic.

IF answered in a 'of course' manner "You named me Iffy, so why not I give you a nickname as well? Going back to the topic at hand, where'd you get the disc from?"

Neptune just answered the question nonchalantly and pointed to a nearby wall "I dunno. It was just hanging on that wall over there."

"Hanging on that wall?" IF looked in the direction that Neptune had shown her. Her tone was completely laced with skeptical "This disc? You're not pulling my leg, are you?"

"Nepu? What?! Iffy, you don't believe me?" Neptune's face was truly a crestfallen one. It was evident that her tears were going to leak. "After all that we've been through…"

'Neptune's acting…. This was nostalgic…' Ray mused at the scene that was unravelling between the girls.

However, it seems Compa had fallen for Neptune's acting as she started to speak up. "Iffy, you're so horrible, not believing in Nep-Nep."

Neptune continued her act, pretending to be furious "I know that your name makes you question everything, but show me some love here!"

"That's not what my name means." IF just sighed in exasperation, then continued "Besides, we only met a short while ago."

Neptune's eyes started to sparkle after hearing IF's words, "Iffy…"

After another sigh, IF could only try to appease the girl "Okay, okay. I got it. I believe you."

Upon hearing those words, Neptune said happily and teased IF "Now that's my Iffy! The word 'Iffy' has got to mean 'I Feel For You!' That definitely had to be love!"

Compa joined in on the teasing as well "How about we call you 'AI' instead? Since 'Iffy' is basically Ai-chan in Japanese, it could also be said as 'Love' in Japanese as well!"

Neptune continued with the third combo "Why not spell it in lower case, like 'ai'? It's cuter, too!"

[Author's notes: Seriously, I have no idea what part of making it lower case makes it cuter, but this is Neptunia and we don't really care about logic here, so just roll with it.]

"Whoa! Hold you horses, both of you! You're running way off track!" IF frantically tried to stop their teasing but was unable to. She turned and looked for help and saw Ray who was stifling his laughter at the sight of IF being driven into a corner by the duo. "Ray, don't just stand there! Help me out, won't ya!"

"Awwwww, Iffy, are you blushing or are you blushing?" Neptune's face was a complete trolling one as she continued her combos on IF. [Please check out the infamous Neptune troll face for this part]

"All right now, stop it, you two." Finally had his fill of laugh, Ray stepped in to stop the teasing and preventing the duo from getting overboard. "Anyway, Neptune, let me have a look-" Ray tried to steer the conversation back on topic but was cut off short when the disc suddenly emitted a bright light.

After the bright light had died down, the group looked around them and say that they were surrounded by a group of monsters.

"Nep! Where did the monsters come from?" Neptune exclaimed in surprise.

"No time for that! They are coming!" IF said as she prepares herself for the upcoming onslaught.

The monsters came charging in at the group from all directions.

"Watch out and watch each other's backs!" Shouted Ray as he blocked the attack from one of the monsters that had charged in his direction.

"Right!" "Okie-dokie!" "Yessiree" replied the other 3 girls as the stayed close to each other and fended the wave of monsters.

(15minutes of fighting a huge group of mob monsters) [A/N: Am not writing how the mob fights went down…]

After the last monster exploded into bits of data, the group finally are able to catch a breather.

"That was a surprise. You two should've told me that monsters came from discs." Neptune complained as she plopped herself onto the ground.

"How should we have known?" IF countered. "I mean no one knows where the monsters come fro…" IF's voice trailed off as she realized what Neptune had just said.

"Iffy? What's the matter? Cat got your tongue?" Neptune asked as IF didn't finished her words.

"So this is where the monsters come from… This is amazing!" IF exclaimed as she realized the importance of the events just now.

"Yessy! I think this is a super discovery!" said Compa happily.

"That's right, this is one that we must report to the guild ASAP." Commented Ray as he started to jot down the information.

It was at this moment.

"Hahahahahahahahaha!!!"

An unfamiliar voice erupted into laughter near the group.

"I came to see what happened to my guardian, but I didn't expect to meet you here, Neptune!" The owner of the voice walked out from the shadows of the cave and revealed herself. The voice's owner's appearance was of a gothic witch, dressed in black with hints of purple. With a grayish-white skin, and a witch hat to top off her outfit, it could be said that she was not a friendly character based on first impressions.

"Who are you? What's with that old, melodramatic laugh…?" Neptune asked and managed to get off topic again as she stood up with her weapon in hand. The other three also had their weapons at the ready since the witch was emitting a dangerous aura.

The witch snapped angrily "Who are you calling old?! Mocking people as usual. You've not changed a bit."

"Is this a friend of yours?" Compa whispered to Neptune, curious of the relationship between Neptune and the newcomer.

"Of course not. I don't know any old lady wearing this much goth makeup." Neptune replied casually.

Compa let out a sigh "That's good to hear. I was about to doubt your choice of people."

IF also said in a sassy manner to try and lighten the tension "Yeah. If you were friend with her, I would've put in my resignation."

"Girls, try to be more serious in this situation, will ya?" butted in Ray as he still had his eyes trained on the witch.

"Sooooo, who are you, Missus?" Neptune forwarded the question to the witch.

The witch was getting more furious after hearing the exchange of conversation and does not hesitate the show her evidence of anger. "How dare you! Saying what you want in front of me… I'll kill you all!" At this point, the witch manifested her weapon—a spear with four large blades as the head—out of nowhere.

"Get Ready!!!" shouted Ray as the witch began charging towards the group.

All right, this is the end of this chapter. Please RR and give any suggestions in the comments. Thanks in advance for reading my fanfiction! Also, if you guys will, please visit my blogspot which I will be updating parts of any chapter weekly on Mondays. The website is h t t p s : / / blogwithray. blogspot . my / without the spaces within.


	10. Re: chapter 4

Chapter 3: A Fierce Battle

 **The all familiar disclaimer of every fanfiction ever** : I, writer of this fanfiction does not own the Neptunia franchise and the characters inside it except for the original characters. Neptunia belongs to Idea Factory.

 **Author's notes** : Warning! There may be some out of character moments for the characters as I am not sure how to properly portray them. I wish to apologize if you find it weird. Also if you have any idea on how to improve it, please tell me in the comments section. Thank you.

 _Italic_ is as usual for thoughts.

 **Bold** are for attacks (though may be shout out or not)

Underline are for author's notes.

(Third POV)

(A clearing within the depths of Monster Cave)

Ray who had been the tank among the four immediately rushed forward to block the witch's attack.

"Foolish boy." The witch coldly said as her weapon came in contact with Ray's sword. At the moment of contact, Ray was sent flying backwards and flopped on the ground.

"Oopf…" Ray let out a grunt and seem to fell unconscious.

"Ray!" The other 3 girls were worried and took their attention away from the witch for a split second. That split second was the time that the witch required.

"Take this!" The witch merely thrusted at the trio which broke through their defenses and sent them flying as well.

"This was too easy." The witch declared in an icy tone. The difference between their prowess was evident as she took the group out with just one hit per person.

The three girls were still trying to get up and the witch started drifted towards Neptune. As she raised her weapon, she coldly declared "Now, then… I will be taking both your life and the Key Fragment, Neptune." After saying those words, she swung down her four pronged spear at Neptune.

"Shing!!!"

"Hargghhhhh!!!!" Ray who seemed to had regained consciousness after hearing the witch's declaration, roared as he parried the weapon with his katana.

"Oh?" The witch seems surprised that someone who was unable to take a hit before was suddenly able to cross weapons with her. What surprised her even more was the fact that she was slowly pushed back. She observed the silvered hair teen standing in front of her and noticed that his aura seemed stronger than before. "Awakening, huh?" The witch just levitated backwards as to prevent from crossing her blade any longer once she determined that her opponent had just awakened.

"It's not just him!" At that sentence, the witch was barely able to block the attack of someone that her eyes did not capture.

After blocking the attack, only did she realize that the one attacking her was someone that was just lying on the ground as well. "Oh, another awakened scum." She commented as she continued to block IF's flurry of attacks with ease.

IF ignored the comment and continued circling around the witch while not stopping her attacks. Her qatars started glowing red as IF infused both weapons with elemental flames. This caused the temperature around the battlefield to rise gradually and a breeze started forming around her as she continued her circles.

At the same time, Ray retreated back to Neptune and Compa's side and passed some potions to the duo. "Come on girls! This ain't the time to lounge around!" After finishing his sentence, he charged into the battlefield once more.

Neptune and Compa downed the medicine and the effect was immediate. They felt like their stamina had been restored as though they had rested for a long time and their wounds had started to heal.

"Wow! This medicine sure is great! I feel like I could take on the big monster from earlier on my own!" marveled Neptune as she stood up, examining herself.

"Nep-nep, now's not the time to be amazed, we need to help IF and Ray!" Compa stood up and started preparing some magic to buff the others.

"Yeah! You're right Compa, it's time to go all out!" A flash of white light and the more mature-looking version of Neptune floated there. "Now then, I'm going to pay you back!"

Ray and IF were engaging the witch in circles as Neptune suddenly flew in, slashing with a force that the old witch couldn't even defend completely, leaving the first wound on her.

"Why you!!!" The witch was enraged that she was harmed by the same person that she had defeated so effortlessly.

"It's not over yet! **Cross Combination**!" Neptune continued her assault, forcing the witch to focus on parrying but was still forced back slowly.

At this moment, Ray and IF quickly took a breather. Ray quickly took out some vials and coated his weapon with it while passing some to IF as well. "These are for debuffing the enemy." He quickly explained to IF. Simultaneously, Compa's buff came as well, boosting their recovery speed and magic.

"Thanks Compa!" said IF, as she coated her qatars and starts preparing a magic circle.

Ray rushed in infusing his weapon with electrical mana as he charged. Neptune's last strike forced the witch's weapon away, leaving the witch open. Seizing the opening, Ray placed all his might into his attack and slashed the witch without any mercy.

Unfortunately, the witch was able to react in time by gathering her mana to form a barrier with one hand and blocked his attack. Sparks flew from the point where Ray's weapon had made contact with the shield. Gathering her composure, the witch readied her four pronged spear to impale the male in front of her. Though the witch failed to notice the magic circle that had formed under her feet.

"Ray, now!" IF shouted and Ray reacted instantly by jumping backwards to dodge the spear which caused the witch to stumble after putting her full force into that strike but missing. " **Flame Pillar**!" At the same time, the magic circle glowed red underneath the witch and a pillar of white flames erupted from her feet, burning and trapping her within the circle.

As the flames continued to erupt in the circle, Ray trains his Desert Eagle directly at the flames and starts to infuse lightning mana into the barrel, causing a magic circle to appear in front of the gun. IF was focusing on channeling her mana to make the flames last as long as possible. At the same time, Neptune readied a stance after regaining her breath back from before.

Suddenly, the flame pillar started to expand as though something was trying to escape from within. "Can't hold it much longer…" IF said while gritting her teeth to hold up the spell. As soon as she said that, the flames were forced apart from within, causing IF some damage due to the destruction of her spell. The flames started to dissipate, revealing the witch who did not fare well within the flames. There are many burnt marks upon her body and her clothes were tattered as well, signifying that IF's effort was not in vain.

Immediately after the flames disappeared, Ray fired the spell from his revolver which formed bolts of lightning that charged through the air. ' **Thousand** **Thunderbolts**!' The lightning bolts struck the witch even before she could react. The thunderbolts forced her back into the cavern walls and continued their damage upon her mercilessly, causing the cavern to shake wildly making people wonder whether the cavern will collapse or not.

After the thunderbolts have disappeared, the silhouette of the witch was revealed to show that she seems to have fallen unconscious. At the sight of that, two long sighs can be heard from the group. But the other two more experienced adventurers were not reassured and started closing in onto the figure cautiously to authenticate whether the enemy has really fainted or not.

All right, this is the end of this chapter. Please RR and give any suggestions in the comments. Thanks in advance for reading my fanfiction! Also, if you guys will, please visit my blogspot which I will be updating parts of any chapter weekly on Mondays. The website is : / / blogwithray. blogspot . my / without the spaces within.


	11. Re: chapter5

Chapter 4: Aftermath of a fierce battle

 **The all familiar disclaimer of every fanfiction ever:** I, writer of this fanfiction does not own the Neptunia franchise and the characters inside it except for the original characters. Neptunia belongs to Idea Factory.

 **Author's notes** : Warning! There may be some out of character moments for the characters as I am not sure how to properly portray them. I wish to apologize if you find it weird. Also if you have any ideas or suggestions on how to improve it, please tell me in the comments section. Thank you.

 _Italic is as usual for thoughts_.

 **Bold are for attacks (though may be shout out or not)**

Underline are for author's notes.

(Third POV)

(A clearing within the depths of Monster Cave)

It was only until the two approached the two and disarmed the witch's weapon, only did the witch began to stir.

"Urgh…." The witch who seemed to have regained consciousness, tried to pick up her weapon only to find that her weapon has been kicked away by Ray. At this moment, she felt the sharp point of a katana and a qatar at her neck.

"Now then, you will answer our questions." Mature Neptune who was floating behind Ray and IF asked. "I have to ask… but do we know each other?"

"Of course I do! I know you like the palm of my hand!" The witch answered indignantly.

"Then, tell me, who am I?" Neptune asked with a tone of anxiousness.

"Are you crazy or something? To even ask others who you are? The woman was clearly puzzled by Neptune's words.

"That is-" As Ray starts to say something, his words got cut off by Compa "Nep-Nep lost her memory, so, if you know anything, please tell us!" Her voice was the same angelic one but there is a tone of steel under her words.

"Hahahaha! You? Neptune? Of all people? Losing her memory? Now, this is golden!!" After hearing Compa's words, the witch began laughing. "I was worried what might happen when I lost sight of you, but know I see that luck is still in my favor!"

"What are you talking about?" IF asked.

Yet the witch just ignored her and looked straight into Neptune's eyes. "I'll let you hold on to your life and the Key Fragment for now. Until next time!" As soon as she finished her sentence, a bright light suddenly erupted in front of them. Ray and IF instantly reacted by thrusting their weapons but felt nothing. After the light died down, the witch had completely disappeared without a trace left.

Neptune looked around in hopes of finding any clues, but to no avail, "She's…. gone?"

After a brief look around, IF spoke up, "It seems she managed to got away… Who was she? It seems like she had a vendetta against you, Nep?"

Neptune slowly floated down and said softly, "I don't know either… If only I could speak to Histy… Maybe she has some clues on who would want the Key Fragment as well…"

' _Though, that woman knew Neptune… So does that mean there is someone out there aiming for the lives of the goddesses?_ ' Ray thought to himself silently.

"Nep-Nep…"

"Well, before we think further, let's take care of this first." IF held up the discs.

"The discs that the monster came out from?" Ray said.

"For the time being… Hargh!" IF sliced the discs in half using her qatars.

"Well, that's one way to deal with it." Ray looked at the other and suggested, "Now then, I believe we have done what we could here. How about we head back to town for some rest?" ' _Though I might have to speak with the guildmaster first…_ '

Everyone agreed with the notion and quickly exited the cave through the way they came in from.

(One hour later, back at Planeptune…)

After entering the gates of Planeptune, the group finally were able to take a break from the everything that had happened.

"Well then, I believe this is where we must part for today, girls." Ray spoke to the others. "We do have some quests to turn in and I believe that you girls needed some RR more than I do, so I will be turning all our quests for you all."

If just shrugged her shoulders "Heh, I will take you up on that offer Ray. I really needed some RR after what happened."

At this point, Compa spoke up, "How about coming to my place, Iffy?"

"Huh?" IF was bewildered.

"Great idea, Compa!" Neptune enthusiastically jumped at the idea of having IF over.

"But I…." IF haven't finished her words when Neptune cut her words short and not giving her a chance to speak "Iffy, you should totally come and taste Compa's cooking! It's so delicious I bet many would kill for!"

"Well then, hope you girls have a nice time." Ray just laughed lightly at the commotion the girls are making and started walking away.

"Hey, Ray! Don't forget to stay in contact!" IF who was struggling to get out of Neptune's hug shouted. The reply she got from Ray was a wave signaling he got the message. "All right Nep, just get off me already, I'll crash at Compa's place tonight, alright?"

\--(Line break)--

(The guild, fifteen minutes later)

Ray walked up to a receptionist in the corner who looks like she was playing some games on her console and said "Hi there, I would like to turn in these quests. Here is the information." He handed some slips of paper through the window, not even worried that the receptionist was not paying attention at all.

The receptionist looked annoyed to be disturbed during her gaming session, tried to take the information that Ray had handed over, only to find that Ray's hands were holding onto it tightly.

"Also, I would like to meet with Guild Master Ryuka. My code is *9802" Ray spoke in a soft voice swiftly that only the receptionist could hear. After listening to Ray's words, the receptionist's face turned from one of not giving a care in the world to one of upmost seriousness. She nodded curtly and scribbled something on a piece of paper and handed it to Ray. "You know what to do."

Ray took the paper and walked briskly to a door nearby and punched in the password written on the piece of paper and quickly entered the door before anyone noticed.

Behind the door was a normal corridor that could be found within any office building, full of guild workers moving about, performing their duties. Instead of walking to the door at the end of the corridor Ray stopped at the middle of the corridor and knocked on the door with a simple rhythm "Ryuka, it's me, Ray".

A female voice from inside the room answered "Come in." and Ray entered the room and closed the door behind him swiftly.

After entering the room, one would only marvel at the fancy decorations that seemed like it belongs in a private room within a club instead of one befitting of a nation's guild master. The desk at which the voice from before was working at was situated near a shelf full of the best winery around the world. Even upon the desk where there are stacks of paper, there are a couple of vodkas and spirits sitting upon the papers, acting as paperweight. There is also a dark-red colored velvet sofa right by the table which was spacious enough for many to sit in. The owner of the room which was also the guild master of the nation Planeptune was shifting through the paperwork on her desk and did not raise her head until Ray had closed the door behind him to show her full appearance.

The guild master was a fair skinned female with bright, blue eyes and long, brown hair which formed a big spiraling, loose ponytail on one side and a red flower on the other side. Her outfit was a red top with a dark red-black spiraling dragon and a few buttons, with only one being together to reveal her breasts and belly button. At the collar is a gold badge with a red rose decal. Over this, she wears a white jacket with red cuffs and black lace lining a white skirt with a dark red slit on the side.

{A/N: The above was a copy from the neptunia wikia regarding Ryuka's appearance.}

Ryuka greeted Ray casually while not stopping her work "Hey there, what news do the 'Silver-haired purple-eyed hunter' have for me today."

"Well, news that would definitely surprise you." Ray answered while raising one of his eyebrows in anticipation of how the normally composed guild master that always emitted an aura of "Onee-Sama" would react to his words. "I just found out that the CPU of Planeptune has lost her memory right now."

The news took a while to sunk in and Ryuka finally reacted after understanding the implications of Ray's words. "WHAT!!!"

She immediately rose to her feet "Are you kidding me?! Neptune, our CPU lost her memory?!" Her voice was one of disbelief as no one would ever expect that a CPU could lost her memory.

"Yep, Neptune had lost all her memory including her identity and position as Planeptune's CPU." Ray sat down on the sofa and answered.

After receiving confirmation from Ray, Ryuka paced around the office and then walked to her desk and took a couple of swigs straight out of the bottle of vodka that was used as a paperweight. When she finally stopped, the bottle which was full before is now half empty already.

"Foo….. Alright, Ray." Ryuka who had finally calm down, started speaking again, "I need to know every single bit of detail of how you obtained this information." Even though she had just downed half a bottle of vodka, her eyes seemed clearer than before as she stared into Ray's eyes as she spoke.

Ray looked straight back at Ryuka and answered "No problem. But you better take a seat as this is one long story."

Line Break*

(30 minutes later…)

Ryuka slumped back into her sofa, supporting her forehead with one of her hands, "This is a grave situation…"

Ray who was sitting in the sofa opposite her just spoke in a calm voice "Don't worry so much, it's not like the other nations will find out about this information and start attacking us."

Ryuka lifted her head and looked at Ray quizzically "You haven't heard the news?"

Raising an eyebrow, Ray just asked "What news?"

Instead of answering, Ryuka just went to her table, pulled out some papers and handed them to Ray. "Here, take a look at these chaos in the other nations."

Ray took out the papers and started reading through them.

[Lowee: Group claiming that current CPU is fake?!]

[Lastation: Avenir had seized the majority of seats in the basilicom council!!]

[Leanbox: Something major! The CPU was seriously injured and won't meet the citizens?!]

"Wha- What are these!" Ray was utterly shocked as he read the information that had been written on those papers.

"Well, these are the information our spies had gathered and analyzed from the other nations. As you can see, right now chaos is ensuing over Gamindustri and here I was thinking that our nation would be spared and now you give me this bad news…" Ryuka shook her head and went back to her seat behind the table. "Ray, I need to reaffirm something, are you certain that those within the room are the ones that knew of the information that you told me just now?"

Putting down the papers, Ray began to answer "Well, I think that the nurse Compa is too ditzy to figure out this information without someone actually laying out everything bare before her. As for IF, she may suspect something but I would not say for certain."

Ryuka pondered upon what Ray had told her and started speaking once again "All right, Ray, I hope you could help me out this one time……"

Line Break*

(one hour later)

(Ray's place)

"…And sent." Lying down on a sofa, Ray texted IF regarding how he should pass the girls their rewards and asked where to meet up the next day.

A floating disc flew into the room after he sent the mail and circled around him. "Hm… You look kinda happy, something good happened?" Sloth asked.

"Yeah, blablabla happened and yadayadayada occurred." Replied Ray lazily as he continued to lounge on the sofa.

"Okay…." 'Ding!' "Seems like they asked you to go to the nurse's place tomorrow. So what will you do?"

"That would have to wait till tomorrow when I meet the girls. I plan to assist Neptune by teaming up with them and teaching her and Compa some basic techniques they need to know as their fighting prowess is just horrible at this stage."

"Huh. Well then, I'm gonna stay back at this safe house instead of following you."

"Oh. All right, just try not to make a mess of this house before I get back."

"Sure do."

A/N: All right, this is the end of this chapter. Please RR and give any suggestions in the comments. Thanks in advance for reading my fanfiction! Also, if you guys will, please visit my blogspot which I will be updating parts of any chapter weekly on Mondays if I can as my schedule lately is a bit messed up. The website is h t t p s : / / blog with ray. Blog spot . my / without the spaces within.


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